The decision this spring by the director of real estate for the City of Toronto to transfer Jorge Carvalho, supervisor of St. Lawrence Market for 16 years, to another job has left market employees, butchers, bakers and fishmongers in a turmoil. They are wondering whether the city has plans for the 209-year-old, city-owned St. Lawrence Market that it is not sharing with anybody yet.

Rumours swirling in the market suggest the city wants to privatize the place, or at the very least bring in big national chains. One longtime city employee at the market suggested Mr. Carvalho, “got Gary Webstered” — a reference to the city’s decision to fire Mr. Webster, chief general manager at the TTC, earlier this year after he opposed Mayor Rob Ford’s subway vision.

On Tuesday, Mr. Casali convened most of the 24 city employees who clean and maintain the St. Lawrence Market to a meeting in the Great Hall in St. Lawrence Hall — the sumptuous cupola-roofed structure on King Street East that was once Toronto’s City Hall — to calm them down.

Mr. Casali has also convoked a meeting of merchants on Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., to talk to them about the departure of Mr. Carvalho.

“Jorge was reassigned because we have talked about cross-training people to make sure we have depth across the organization,” Mr. Casali said on Tuesday. “We look at our vulnerabilities and I decided that we needed to have change. I know that St. Lawrence Market is the best market in the world. This is an instance where I think the employer has to make sure it is doing the best possible job. Numerous employers cross-train their employees.”

Asked about the timing of Mr. Carvalho’s transferral — two days after National Geographic, in a new book called Food Journeys of a Lifetime, named St. Lawrence Market the world’s best — Mr. Casali replied, “that part is bad timing with respect to that coming out. We’d been talking about this for a number of months.”

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The result of the transfer was a job swap, with Mr. Carvalho moving to the leasing department of the city’s real estate division to replace Nick Simos, who becomes the new “acting” supervisor of the market.

‘People don’t like change — I think that’s why they are so upset. But change is inevitable’

Mr. Casali insists that despite merchant fears, he does not want to bring in Starbucks, nor privatize the market.

“I want to talk to the market vendors about all the misinformation that is swirling around and assure them that the city is behind the market and wants to make sure that it succeeds,” Mr. Casali said. “I have never told anyone that I am changing or want to change the tenant mix in the market. People don’t like change — I think that’s why they are so upset. But change is inevitable.”

In trying to find Mr. Carvalho, the city’s information service provides his now outdated number at St. Lawrence Market. Mr. Casali said Mr. Carvalho, “is acting in the supervisory capacity at Metro Hall,” and is on vacation this week.

The owner of one popular stall at St. Lawrence Market said he is hoping for some answers at Wednesday’s meeting.

“It was the wrong time to [replace Mr. Carvalho],” said the owner, who did not give a name. “There are things happening at the market — the redevelopment of the north market. It was under Jorge’s tutelage that the market became what it is today. We are still trying to get answers about why they took him away.”

Mr. Simos did not return a call seeking comment.

It is hard to see anything broken at the market. Bruce Bell, a historian who lives in the neighbourhood, says he no longer offers tours on Saturdays, because the market is just too crowded. On other days, he revels in showing the place off to visitors.

“I look at the market as my stage,” he says. “I like to stand there and say, ‘Take a look at this — one of the great markets of the world.’”